Endorsing ‘Brand North East’ assam industry and commerce minister Pradyut Bordoloi felt need for cashing in on the core-competence areas of the region to intensify trade vistas with the South East Asian countries.
“The North East has emerged as the nation’s interface to South East Asia and it is high time to take advantage of it by laying special focus to the region’s core competence areas like nature, culture, human resources, agriculture and mostly importantly the geographical location, which has now turned into an advantage for us,” said Bordoloi while speaking during the International Buyer Seller Meet organised by the Industries and Trade Fair Association of Assam (ITFAA), North East Region on association with development commissioner ( handicrafts) ministry of textiles, GoI here on Friday, sources said.
The event has been organized as part of the Sourcing Show at the 16 International Guwahati Trade Fair at the Assam Engineering Institute ground Chandmari, Guwahati.
According to sources, Bordoloi asserted that the region is integrating its economic future with the South East Asian countries and also lauded the initiative taken by the ITFAA aimed at improving the trade ties between the region and the foreign countries.
Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Syed Masud Mahmood Khundoker, while speaking on the occasion, said that though trade activities between the India and Bangladesh is growing, there is however, more scope to be exploited.
“The volume of trade between the two countries amounts to three Billion USD, of which 2.4 billion USD comprise the goods exported from India. Bangladesh exports goods to the tune of 350 million USD annually,” informed Khundoker, hinting that both the countries are yet to take advantage of its close proximity to the optimum level.
Tharadol Thongruang, Counsellor (Commercial) of the Royal Thai Embassy urged the government to give way to a congenial trade atmosphere. “NE has developed in a big way in the recent past and the future is looking even better,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Assam industries and commerce minister Pradyut Bordoloi also felicitated Tharadol Thongruang for his contribution in strengthening business relationship between Thailand and Northeast India. ITFAA also as a tribute to his contribution conferred him with the title of honorary life membership.
S Dkhar, Regional Directorn, NER Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) while stressing on the importance of imparting training on innovative designs, assured cooperation from the Government in providing exposure to the NE-made handicrafts.
Nguyen Tuan Quang, commercial counsellor, Head of Vietnam Trade Office, Vietnam Embassy, informed that India and Vietnam shares a very cordial relationship and the size of the bilateral business is around 2.6 billion USD. According to sources, representatives from Turkey and Sri Lanka were also present on the occasion.